Scrub Clean Thanks To Kids, County

Fourth-graders Join In To Clear Trash From Land

BOYNTON BEACH - — From the front, it's just another scruffy vacant lot along Seacrest Avenue. From the back, it's an environmental treasure.

The 14-acre Rosemary Scrub is another slice of Florida's past that Palm Beach County has acquired to save from development through a $100 million bond issue approved by voters in 1991.

The county has saved 2,736 acres so far.

The Rosemary Scrub is the county's most recent purchase, bought from two owners in January and March, and it needed to be cleared of debris.

Rolling Green Elementary School fourth-graders involved in the I Have a Dream Foundation turned out on Saturday to help the county clear the land. Armed with white buckets and oversized work gloves, they marched through the litter, tossing bottles and cans, potato chip bags and candy wrappers into containers, while dragonflies danced around their feet.

"I'm so happy to see them out here together. I didn't know so many would show up," said Gordon MacQuaker, 81, founder of the foundation's Boynton Beach chapter, which offers full-tuition scholarships to the Rolling Green fourth-graders who graduate from high school. The program is geared to low-income children. "It's important for them to be responsible for the community where they live, whether it's painting over graffiti or cleaning of property," he said.

Fourth-grader Craig Hutcheson dashed to every adult in sight. A bright green caterpillar perched on the edge of his glove. "Look what I got," he said.

Many of the children, like Craig, live just across Seacrest from the scrubland.

Gloria De La Cruz, whose son Jose is a foundation participant, welcomes the county's cleanup.

"I've been saying they need a park here," De La Cruz said as she picked up trash."I've been forever looking at this place. It's big, it's beautiful."

The land won't become a park with playgrounds and swing sets and places to play volleyball or basketball. Instead, it will stay the way it is, with rosemary growing in abundance and pale green spikemoss, with only nature trails leaving any sign of man.

And as the kids finished their work, county volunteer coordinator Bob Galbraith threw in an impromptu lecture and tour of the scrub.

"This is a special place. We're going to have this place forever," he told the 29 children. "We want people to come here and take pictures, but have nothing left behind but footprints. OK, everybody, take two steps back. Look at your footprints. That's OK to have behind, but nothing else."

So far, the county has bought 2,726 acres, with another 12,777 acres to go. Most of the remaining land - about 12,000 acres in various parcels - belongs to the MacArthur Foundation, said Kathleen Brennan, county environmental program supervisor. Another 212 acres is the Yamato Scrub, an acquisition in limbo because of a lawsuit and a bankruptcy.

It wasn't just the children and their parents who came out on Saturday. Residents joined in, too.

"It's just my way of contributing to the community. Instead of just giving money, give time," said Tom Grady as he raked under a bush.